Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/278956
SPRING 2014 | wyoea.org SPRING 2014 | WEAnews 18 Summary of other notable education bills The Jason Flatt Act - Beginning school year 2014-15, this requires all teachers and school administrators to receive at least 8 hours of suicide prevention education every four school years. Materials must be reviewed and made available by the Director of the WDE. If teachers/administrators have not received such training prior to employment, they must receive at least 2 hours during the initial school year of employment. The board shall make all suicide prevention education materials & classes available to interested community members. Required school bus video - Effective school year 2016-17 and thereafter, requires school buses used for transporting students to/from school and school activities to be equipped with external video camera systems; internal video systems are optional. Appropriates up to $5 million to reimburse districts 100% of the cost of both internal and external equipment to retrofit buses. National Board Certification incentive pay - Clarifies who qualifies for state reimbursement of the NBCT pay incentive: in addition to teachers, the definition now specifically includes district employees holding certification and employed full time as instructional facilitators, certified tutors, librarians, or counselors. Effective 7/1/14. Alternative schools - As of 7/1/14, this bill eliminates the moratorium on alternative schools under the block grant funding model. In order to start an alternative school on or after 7/1/14, the district must follow specific guidelines. Schools crisis management plans - School Crisis Management Plans: Requires Wyoming Department of Education (WDE), Attorney General, and Department of Homeland Security to assist districts and local law enforcement and health and safety agencies to develop school crisis management plans & provide training. WDE must convene an advisory committee. Next Generation Science Standards - Prohibits the Wyoming Department of Education and State Board of Education from spending any of their appropriations for the review or adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS); this is effective immediately. Early childhood development - Appropriates $75 thousand to Department of Family Services (DFS) for coordination of early childhood programs between WDE, DFS, Wyoming Department of Health, and Department of Workforce Services, and requires reporting. Appropriates $665 thousand to DFS for a grant program available to school districts and nonprofit service providers for developing, enhancing and sustaining high quality early childhood education programs (and specifically not for care taking). Grants should be available by school year 2014-15. Education Accountability – The Select Committee on Education Accountability and the Advisory Committee on Education Accountability will continue to be funded through the end of this year. The Legislative Service Office (LSO) will continue to staff both committees and is authorized to hire consultants as necessary. Here it is called "Complete College Wyoming" – our version of "Complete College America" adopted in forty-two states thus far. And it is controversial, even if misunderstood. Can it be analyzed in the space of this article? Not credibly. But key points can be made insofar as it affects the whole of education in our state. An oft-repeated assertion is that CCW is higher education's version of "No Child Left Behind." And if badly implemented, it can become problematic in ways similar to NCLB. But CCA is not based in federal law, and there are no federal mandates or sanctions. It is a nongovernment entity funded by the likes of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation for Education, and others. Its goal is to "significantly increase the number of Americans with a college degree or credential of value and to close attainment gaps for traditionally underrepresented populations." Who could argue with that? There is national bipartisan support for this "movement," with President Obama as well as Florida's GOP Governor Rick Scott embracing its goals. Our own Governor Matt Mead committed the Wyoming Community College Commission in late 2012, and they created a statewide "core team" to coordinate the colleges. College administrators, commissioners, commission staff, lawmakers and university officials were included, but no faculty. I was appointed as the sole faculty voice to what is called the "extended team" in November of 2013, and only very recently did the "core" members agree to expand the extended membership to include at least one faculty member from each college and the university. This is a fortunate development. I would first note to the new faculty members that the goals of the national and state efforts are largely familiar. Every college is already working to increase "degree completion" rates and to assist underrepresented populations. Every college is already working to reform its remedial education and get students to their "gateway" math and writing coursework as part of that agenda. I do not know any faculty who do not want their students to earn a credential and get a job – so in fact, the national goal of creating the educated workforce for a 21 st -Century economy is not the source of controversy. But how each college works on that agenda can be controversial. How will the colleges retain their autonomy? Will faculty control of curriculum be respected? To what extent and how is "performance-based funding" woven into the package? Currently, Wyoming's colleges are subject to a growing "course completion" funding metric. Will that morph further into a "degree completion" model? Is a degree completion model demanding a five percent increase every year for ten years sustainable? As in other states, lawmakers are likely to carve some reforms into statute. There are bad models – Florida comes to mind – and there are more reasonable models. Maryland's lawmakers adopted recommendations based on collaborative negotiations between public schools, community colleges and universities. The WEA needs to study and help Complete College Wyoming in such a productive direction. Steve Thulin Northwest College EA President 754-6000 steve.thulin@gmail.com Steve Thulin has taught History at Northwest College for almost 24 years. Complete College Wyoming Spring 2014 working.indd 18 3/14/14 4:31 PM